Former Wisconsin U.S. Reps. Tom Petri and Reid Ribble are among the more than 140 GOP leaders and ex-officials who signed onto a statement condemning the RNC’s censure of Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney.
The statement released today also rips the resolution’s characterization of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol as “legitimate political discourse.”
Today’s statement accuses the RNC of betraying “the GOP’s founding principles and ceded control of a once-great movement to grifters and extremists. The RNC has also signaled that it no longer welcomes people of conscience.”
The resolution targeted Kinzinger, R-Ill., and Cheney, R-Wyo., for their participation in the House Jan. 6 select committee, accusing them of participating in a “Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”
That line prompted blowback in various political quarters. After the outcry, RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel insisted the reference to “legitimate political discourse had nothing to do with the violence at the Capitol.” But the resolution doesn’t include language making that distinction.
The statement released today calls the description of the Jan. 6 events in the resolution “an affront to the rule of law, peaceful self-government, and the constitutional order.” The signers added they stood “proudly next to principled leaders such as Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. And we stand united against efforts to defile our democracy.”
Read the statement here.
